The warm, “lived-in” look is epitomized by today’s Tuscan style of architecture. Buyers of this taste prefer wood, stone and iron throughout their homes to bring nature in, while taking the indoors out with covered lanais, kitchens and patios. Our 2007 Home of the Year perfectly expresses the sentiment.

From the street, the 6,400-square-foot home features symmetrical design with a two-story, stacked stone entrance and a raked glass and iron door, flanked by turrets with balconies and double garages. The mustard-colored stucco recalls Tuscany’s hills at sunset.

A A flagstone entry step continues indoors and throughout the main level’s open kitchen and hearth room. The kitchen is ready for a true cook, with all of the state-of-the-art appliances, including a built-in steamer. A bi-level island features a hammered copper farmhouse sink and bar seating on the opposite side. If the chef prefers, cooking can be taken outside to the Viking grill, tucked into the corner of a spacious covered lanai with retractable screens, a see-through fireplace, a TV niche and a full bathroom. Beyond this area is a lagoon-shaped pool with a hot tub waterfall flowing into it and a stone patio surrounding it.

kansas city home of the year grand prize winner

The lush landscaping and pool can be seen or accessed from nearly every room in the house. The master suite has a sliding glass door from the bedroom and its connected “you decide” room, which could be an office, an exercise room or a sitting room. Currently, it is a massage room. The suite also comprises a breakfast bar with a hung flat-screen TV and a luxurious bathroom with his-and-hers vanities, a make-up vanity, a Jacuzzi tub, his-and-hers walk-in closets, and a rounded frameless glass shower that juts into a courtyard with a spouting fountain and open-air skylights.

The home is complete with sizeable and comfortable furnishings fit to scale, welcoming everyone in to relax in the luxuriousness of this new home. Although it is far from the Italian hills, imagining the far-away land as right out the back door is never very hard in this home.